User blog:Impatiens the Shmuck/Rebuttal to Will's Review of FNAF Part 1.
Everything Will says will be in normal text. The rebuttal will be in italics. '' In case you recently emerged from a bunker in the desert, and you don't know what FNAF is, let me give some quick context: It's a franchise of horror games that has gotten absurdly popular. They have also gotten a huge amount of hate for various reasons, mainly for being terrible games, and because of the toxic fanbase. Even many people who like the games admit the fanbase is horrible. After the success of the original game, sequel after sequel has been made, faster than the Call of Duty series. The fourth one was going to be the 'final chapter'; Something I didn't believe for a moment. And guess what was announced a few weeks ago! *Image of FNAF World appears on screen, to the tune of the 'dun dun duuuun' sound effect from Law and Order* ''There's a difference to something being the end of a franchise, and being the end of a story. The fourth game is, at this point in time, the last FNAF game that is part of the original timeline. Sister Location is more of a standalone game, and FNAF World is an unrelated RPG. '' I am among the people who hate the games. I hate them to my marrow. I cringe every time I hear a word that is frequently associated with it. DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HATE WORDS SUCH AS ANIMATRONIC?? I USED TO LOVE THAT WORD, IT'S AN AWESOME WORD!! IT HAS 'ANIMA', THE LATIN WORD FOR SOUL, AND 'TRONIC', MAKING IT SOUND ALL MECHANICAL, AND THE WORD JUST SOUNDS LIKE A MACHINE POWERED BY SOULS!!: IT'S SO AWESOME!!! But I can no longer appreciate it. Because every time someone says it, I immediately think of these games now. THANKS, GAMES!! YOU RUINED ONE OF MY FAVORITE WORDS FOR ME. Anyway, after a lot of debates with myself, I have decided to explain exactly WHY I hate them. What kind-of became the tiebreaker for me was the announcement of this new game, because it made me realize that *this* guy (Scott Cawthon) isn't going to stop. He will continue until someone like me splits his head with an axe. ''Untrue. Scott currently is not working on another FNAF game. He said he is working on other things. There still remains the possibility that he will continue, but at this point in time, he is taking a break from the main series. '' Now, let us begin the review. If you are a fan of FNAF, I ask that you please stay and hear me out. If you hate FNAF, sit back and enjoy my criticism. And if you have no strong opinion either way, PREPARE TO HAVE MY OPINION SHOVED DOWN YOUR THROAT. ''Here we go. '' I am going to review the games in chronological order, and therefore, we will begin with the game that started it all. Let's first talk about the premise of the game. In concept, it's actually pretty promising. The player is a nightguard trapped in a building with homicidal animatronics. You've got to survive until your shift is over in your quest to get a paycheck. Your only weapon is your own two eyes. As long as you're looking at the animatronics, they won't move, trying to fool you into thinking they are not alive. The idea of a horror game where you're stuck with living animatronics that only move when you can't see them is actually pretty good. Animatronics can be pretty creepy, and them not moving when you're looking can be a good horror effect and game mechanic. Anyway, while the concept is good, the execution is.....a series of bad decisions. First off, your character can't move. Instead, you are shown the animatronics through security cameras. People say that this is meant to make you feel disempowered and helpless, and it's important for a horror game to make you feel that way, but this doesn't do that for me. Quite the opposite, in fact! If I had to ''P''move around, knowing the animatronics could sneak up behind me at any time, that would be a lot scarier. I would feel more in control, and therefore more connected to my character. Not being able to move makes me feel disconnected from my character, and therefore I don't worry about his safety. Being able to move around would also make me feel more exposed than sitting in a cozy office. ''Let me put it this way; If there is a humanoid creature that reeks of blood and mucus walking around your house, you'd actually be a lot safer if you were free to move around. If you know the place at least moderately well, you can predict where the creature is going to go, and try to fool it/ destroy it somehow. If you are trapped in your own room, when it eventually finds you, you won't be able to do anything. Unless it's a very spacious room, you are cornered, and more easily able to be killed. Yes, walking around would expose you, but it's a lot safer than being stuck in your own room, where there is often only one exit, and that is occupied by said monster. '' Another major flaw is that the gameplay itself is BORING. You're just sitting on your *ss and looking at screens. That's not fun, nor is it scary. And another big problem is that there is no evident strategy to beat the game, making this more about pure luck than skill. Sure, you can eventually notice patterns in what you're supposed to do, but it's full of trial and error... ''See, this argument about the game being random would be a decent one....if he didn't just shrug off the answer to his problem, where he mentioned that there are patterns to beat the game. Based on what Will says in the video, he isn't very aware of the way games work, hinting that he may have just watched the games instead of actually playing them. When going into the detail of the game, there are very specific movement patterns for each animatronic and their behavior, and it's your job to keep each of them in check by remembering what they will do, and how to avoid getting caught. Will, however, ignores this, only bringing it up in passing. '' ....and that's a problem. You'll probably die a lot in this game, and that sends you back to the beginning again. And since the gameplay isn't enjoyable, this gets tiring very quickly. ''Perhaps I'd be able to buy this argument if Will didn't explicitly state many times that he simply cannot be scared. This game relies on scares, and since he is immune, he cannot properly experience the games, and therefore this argument is horribly biased. Also, he's very vague about 'the beginning'. In reality, it only sends you back to the beginning of the night, not the beginning of the work-week. And the levels only last for a number of minutes. I've heard some say that this is what makes the game challenging, but that's not the word to use. The game isn't challenging, the game is punishing. A challenging game is one that is hard, but losing doesn't come with a penalty so severe that it makes you want to stop playing. If you want to stop playing a game due to being set back A FEW MINUTES, there is something horribly wrong with you. I also feel the need to mention that this argument (Will's) is coming from someone who enjoys, not just tolerates, but ENJOYS, Dark Souls. Let that sink in. '' A good example of a challenging game is Super Meat Boy. You might die a lot, but you are instantly revived and can spring back into action. The levels aren't very long, either, meaning you never lose much progress. I feel like every time you die, you come back a little stronger, since you're learning how to beat the level. ''Another mistake; Thinking it's a valid argument to compare two games that have little to nothing in common. You're not comparing apples and oranges, you're comparing apples to zucchini. And again, the levels in FNAF are only EIGHTY-SIX SECONDS. That is a LITTLE OVER A MINUTE. '' However, a game where you are very likely to lose due to unforgiving gameplay, where you are pushed all the way back to the beginning upon losing is a punishing game. And a game being punishing is a very bad thing. It will probably cost you a lot of potential fans, and it's simply poor game design. ''"Local misanthrope complains about being set back a minute and 26 seconds; Proceeds to call game punishing and unforgiving; Almost completely forgets that one of his favorite modern games suffers the same problem times 12" And now, for the most infamous part of the gameplay, the jumpscares. Whenever you lose, you get a really clumsy jumpscare consisting of animatronics screaming in your face. And it is bad. Jumpscares are the laziest, cheapest trick in horror. Using them is basically admitting that you can't scare people. Haven't heard THIS before! Now, I'm not saying that jumpscares have to be a bad thing. Here, let me show you something. *He pulls up an image of his 'horror game class chart'. There are three categories; Tank, damage, and support. * This is my horror game class chart, where different aspects of a horror game have been turned into game classes. The chart still isn't finished, but it's finished enough to prove my point. So, as you can see, the chart is divided into Tank, Damage, and Support. The Tanks create a suspense, building up to the damage, which is the scares, and the suspense and scares are both enhanced by the support class. Disempowerment makes you feel vulnerable, and thus the suspense becomes stronger and you feel more helpless when confronted with scares. Blood/Gore on the floor and walls make for nice decoration to tell the player that ****'s going down, further empowering the suspense. And then we have Jumpscares. These can enhance the effect of scares. If something scary comes as a surprise and shocks the player, it can make things scarier than it would have been otherwise. So, sometimes jumpscares are okay to use! But how do you know WHEN they are? Well, here's a test I like to use. Use your scare without a jumpscare. Don't have a loud noise, and make sure you know exactly when the scare is coming. If it's still at least a little scary, a jumpscare is justified. So, let's try it. I will show some jumpscares from the game, with no sound, and this timer telling you when they will happen. *shows three jumpscares, those being Bonnie's jumpscare, Freddy's jumpscare, and Foxy's jumpscare.* Was that scary? No. Not at all. You see, this a problem with many horror games these days. *These* (The support class, which has disempowerment, blood/gore, jumpscares, the uncanny valley, and concealment of the monsters). are being used as damaged, while Damage and sometimes even Tanks are pushed aside or is being used poorly, and that simply doesn't work. (I'd like to see you come up with something better than a guy who had little to no budget and almost no experience beforehand). But anyways, while I agree that most horror things nowadays do employ their scares incorrectly, you just took the 'jump', out of jumpscare. Would Judge Doom turning around to reveal his Toon eyes be as scary if you knew exactly it was coming? Probably not. It's like taking the music out of a scene that heavily relies on it for atmosphere, such as the opening to the Meet the Pyro video for TF2. '' So, the actual 'scares' in this game are worthless. But I've heard people say that the jumpscares aren't what make the game scary; The suspense is. And that's how it is for many horror games: The suspense plays a huge role while the scares are the payoffs, but here's the thing; There is no suspense. Only boredom. And as I said, the gameplay is boring and I feel disconnected from my character. You're just waiting for an inevitable and predictable jumpscare. I guess you can say the suspense part is having to look at the creepy animatronics, but I don't think they look scary. While that is, however, a matter of opinion.... ''Finally he admits it. '' .....but even if you do find them scary, you can't base the game around the monster's designs. Then the game might as well be a collection of pictures of the monster. ''But even that has it's place in horror. Take Joshua Hoffine, for example. Most of his pictures are just of scared little kids encountering a hideous monster. I dare you to look at one of them *particularly the closet one or maybe the one referencing 'It'* and not get the chills. '' Another problem is that too many things don't make sense about the game itself. Why would having the doors closed drain power? And who would be so pathetic as to come back to a job where they would probably die and still work minimum wage? ''Let's see, road workers, construction workers, zookeepers, policemen, firemen, pizza delivery boys.... If the game was only one long night, and then the player quite immediately, that would make more sense. But now, let's move on to the next game! Category:Blog posts